Mulcair vows to fight on with diminished caucus

MONTREAL – He accomplished his goal of stopping Prime Minister Stephen Harper – just not the way he had hoped.

“From the beginning this election was about change and this evening Canadians have turned the page on 10 long years and they rejected the politics of fear and division,” NDP Leader Tom Mulcair told a few dozen supporters gathered at Montreal’s convention centre.

“Canadians asked the NDP to continue to be the bearer of hope and optimism which characterizes our party.”

While his party has been relegated to third place in the House of Commons, Mulcair made the best of it last night, indicating his diminished caucus of just 42 MPs will make sure that Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government keeps the promises it made Canadians.

“In this campaign Mr. Trudeau made ambitious commitments to Canadians and Canadians will have high expectations for their next Parliament.”

Insiders say Mulcair, who turns 61 later this week, isn’t planning to quit. If there are New Democrats questioning Mulcair’s leadership, they didn’t appear to be among those who gathered at Montreal’s convention centre last night.

“You don’t know the NDP very well,” one New Democrat shot back when asked if Mulcair was likely to face a leadership challenge.

While Monday night’s result was a disappointment for many New Democrats compared with the 94-member caucus it had before the election and all the perks – and staff – that come with official opposition status, people like party President Rebecca Blaikie point out it was still one of the best showings in the NDP’s history.

“I think Tom has done an excellent job. I know that New Democrats all across the country are really proud of him and regardless of the result tonight, one thing is sure, that we are going to have a very important role to play in making sure that Canadians get the change that they want in this next Parliament.”

Last night’s result was very different from what longtime NDP supporters dared dream about only a few weeks ago.

Fuelled by strong performances by Mulcair and other caucus members in the House of Commons, the NDP entered the race neck and neck with the Liberals and the Conservatives and remained in a three way tie for the first half of the campaign. The separation between them was less than the margin of error of the public opinion polls. While a majority of Canadians told pollsters they wanted change, they appeared to be split between the NDP and the Liberals.

The turning point, however, was the debate over the niqab – fuelled by the Bloc Québécois and then the Conservative Party. The NDP’s support in Quebec rested in many cases on the support of soft nationalist Quebecers and rural ridings. The niqab debate prompted the NDP’s numbers to dip in Quebec, which then prompted a shake out in Ontario and other parts of the country as those who wanted change started to shift to the Liberals.

At the outset of the campaign, Mulcair attacked the Conservatives more than the Liberals. By the end of the campaign, however, he was attacking them equally – arguing the Liberal Party was the one that brought Canada the sponsorship scandal and it hadn’t really changed.

Heading into last night’s gathering, veteran NDP strategist Robin Sears said one of the party’s mistakes was underestimating Trudeau. The other problem was the ethnic wedge politics the Conservatives employed during the campaign – tactics the strategist said could hurt the Conservatives in the long run.

Brad Lavigne, a key member of the NDP’s campaign team, said the New Democrats and Mulcair helped set the stage for Harper’s defeat with their work in the House of Commons over the past years.

“I think Mr. Mulcair was a big part of that,” Lavigne said in a television interview broadcast to the room. “I think he paved the way with his prosecution of Mr. Harper over the last number of years in the House of Commons and the first number of (days) of this campaign.”

“I guess if there is anything to take away is that we weren’t able to be that agent for change on election day.”